Officer being investigated over Uvalde response gave order to delay classroom breach

A Texas state police captain tried to delay a law enforcement team entering the classrooms to end the Robb Elementary massacre and is now among those under investigation after an account from someone at the scene that he ordered his officers to stay out of the school in the initial response to the shooting, sources tell CNN. CNN has obtained a new audio recording of Capt. Joel Betancourt ordering a strike team to wait, more than 70 minutes into the attack. Betancourt says he thought a more highly skilled team was on its way. Separately, police memos highlight criticism of Betancourt, a 15-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Memos written just two days after the May 24 massacre and reviewed by CNN detail some of the DPS involvement in the hesitant but chaotic law enforcement response to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. No action was taken against the gunman or to help those trapped with him for 77 minutes apart from an initial approach that was aborted when he started firing. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the massacre.

“I heard someone shout out, Capt. Betancourt said all DPS personnel need to be on perimeter, do no (sic) enter building,” one DPS lieutenant stated, after writing how he had driven from some 40 miles away at speeds of up to 130 mph to get to the scene. A DPS sergeant added in his memo: “As this was clearly against established training, we both decided to enter the building where the shooter was located.” DPS director Col. Steven McCraw told CNN, “Yes, absolutely,” when asked if Betancourt was being investigated for telling officers not to go into the hallway. “The IG is investigating that,” McCraw said during an impromptu interview before a meeting last month. Betancourt was interviewed multiple times in the immediate aftermath of the event and has since become one of seven current and former DPS officers referred for further investigation by the DPS inspector general, CNN has learned from sources close to the events who are not authorized to speak to the media. He told investigators he arrived at Robb Elementary at about 12:45 p.m., a few minutes before the teenage gunman was killed, the sources said. “Hey, this is DPS Captain Betancourt. The team that’s going to make breach needs to stand by. The team that’s gonna breach needs to stand by,” he ordered at 12:48 p.m. on May 24, as heard on the audio from a police radio broadcast captured on multiple officers’ body-worn cameras.